The Clerk's Tale
Folio 96r
18 of 29 folios
But wel he knew / that next hym self certayn
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She loued hir children best in euery wyse
But now of wōmen / wolde I axen fayn
If thise assayes / myghte nat suffise
What koude a sturdy housbonde moore deuyse
To preeue hir wyfhod / or hir stedefastnesse
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And he continuynge / euere in sturdinesse
But ther been folk / of swich condiciou
That whan they haue / a certein prpos take
They kan nat stynte of hir entenciou
But rigħt as they were bounden to that stake
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They wol nat of that firste purpos slake
Right so this Markys / fulliche hath prposed
To tempte his wyf / as he was first disposed
He waiteth / if by word / or contenance
That she to hym / was changed of corage
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But neuere / koude he fynde variance
She was ay oon / in herte and in visage
And ay the forther / þt she was in age
The moore trewe / if þt it were possible
She was to hym in loue / and moore penyble
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For which it semed thus / þt of hem two
Ther nas but o wyl / for as walter leste
The same lust was hir plesance also
And god be thanked / al fil for the beste
She shewed wel / for no worldly vnreste
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A wyf / as of hir self / no thyng ne sholde
Wille in effect but as hir housbonde wolde
¶ The sclaundre of walter / ofte and wyde spradde
That of a crueel herte / he wikkedly
For he a poure wōman wedded hadde
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Hath mordred / bothe his children piuely
Swich mrmure / was among hem comunly
No wonder is / for to the peples ere
Ther cam no word / but þt they mordred were
¶ For which / wher as his peple ther bifore
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Hadde loued hym wel / the sclaundre of his diffame
Made hem / that they hym hated therfore
To been a mordrere is an hateful name
But nathelees / for ernest ne for game
He of his crueel purpos nolde stente
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To tempte his wyf / was set al his entente